Migrants take vans and pickups from Altar, Sonora that will drop them off near the border. Altar is the starting point for many migrants' journeys to the US. In Altar they find guides and coyotes to take them across the border. The town's economy is nearly entirely dependent on the migrants. Recently drug cartels have become involced in the smuggling of people, using the same routes as the drugs and charging the migrants an exit tax to leave the country.